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Hanging on the Wilderness Waterway

I just got back from a Florida trip where we kayaked 103 miles from Everglades City to Flamingo. We used chickees at Crooked Creek, Oyster Bay, and South Joe. We also used ground sites at Darwin's Place, Lostman's Five, Willy Willy, Broad River, and Graveyard Creek. I was able to find a spot to hang the hammock at all of the ground sites except Darwin's and Lostman's. The chickees are platforms with 4 x 4s supporting the roof, so I hung from them.

9 days of paddling, 8 nights, and we had near mirror water the entire time except for crossing a few large bays. Even there, the water was not bad. I FBC'd my dinners and breakfasts, while eating bars, jerky, and nuts for lunches. Bugs were really bad at Broad River and Graveyard, but otherwise were tolerable.

We usually had such easy paddling that we were at the next campsite after about 4 hours of travel. We made most sites by about 1 PM, leaving the afternoon for short exploratory excursions.

Contrary to those road crossing signs where you never see a deer or an elk, we saw alligators in Alligator Creek, a shark at Shark Point, and Oysters in Oyster Bay. However, the Swedish Bikini team did not show up at Broad River.

I saw many gators, some only 18 inches long, and others near 12 ft. Birds, and turtles too numerous to count, and the single 4 ft sand shark as it cruised alongside my 'yak. Luckily, I was standing onshore reaching into my 'yak when he cruised by. Sure did make the fish jumpy.

BB in the background

I will say that this year, Jan was much better weather than what I had last March. Made for a much nicer trek.